Wednesday, August 24, 2016

I can't believe the way time gets away from me. So much has happened yet so little has changed in the big picture of it all. I still pick up poop every day.

Georgie, now called Mina, has a wonderful new home with Kellie on Widbey Island. Hopefully one day I can go up and actually ride her. That would really be full circle for me.

As my wise friend Tina B. tells me all the time I manage to find the best homes for the animals in my care. Many rescues have passed through our lives in the time Marcel and I have had a home together. Sometimes I think I make a better intermediary than permanent home for these animals.

But we have our share of keepers from the bunch. I must tell you about the buckskin we rescued. I wanted to name him Cruz but it just didn't fit so now I renamed him Mateo and I really like that, it fits him perfectly. He changed several colors. He was a smutty dun with dapples for a while and I thought that was really interesting since his winter coat was a very light straw color. Then that fell out and he turned a beautiful golden buckskin. I still haven't saddled him up yet. I'm trying to put some more weight on his top line. Probably have to start working him. It's just too darned hot to force myself or any animal to work. I'm waiting for it to get a bit cooler.

I wonder about the past lives of the animals we've rescued. Information is usually pretty sketchy and we end up surmising a lot from their behavior. Georgie seemed to have that Black Beauty quality about her. Mateo is a strange one he is. He's spooky around hands, but then he isn't. I thought a fly mask would terrify him but it didn't at all. One thing that's consistent is that someone has been mean to them at some point.

WHY? Why do people have to be mean to animals? If you don't like its behavior TRAIN it or get rid of it but don't beat an animal for not knowing what you want it to do. That is so stupid a reaction I just can't wrap my head around it. Punishment based training used to be perfectly accepted by people but now we know that everyone learns better with rewards. Punishment is only given when a person knows what they are expect to do or how they are expected to act but they choose to do the wrong thing. There isn't a lot of scientific fact that animals, besides humans of course, are intelligent enough to choose. Popular science thinks animals just react in a normal way for their species. Try to keep that in mind when your pet decides to disobey. Try it on and see what it feels like. Are you more forgiving? Do you think you should enroll in those obedience classes again? What goes through your mind?

About Me

I live in the Pacific NW on a sheep farm with my childhood sweetheart. I raise, train and show my 8 dogs and have two horses. My animals are my only children. I spend my days picking up their poop. Occasionally my creativity erupts and I'll do some artwork with my "children" as my favorite subjects.